November 1st, 2009 by andum | Posted in Economy, Opportunities, Wealth Creation, Wealth Preservation
Please note that 15 Minutes to Riches is now Wealth Itself. If you are looking for a post, please go to the site Archives. All posts except for "15 Awesome Reasons to Work From Home" are available for your review (this post is no longer available on the site). Thanks for visiting.
Notice all of the red dots on the US map – these represent homes that are currently under foreclosure. But, since this is a map of the US, the red dots actually represent clusters of foreclosed homes. If you want to see foreclosed homes by address, start with this link to Google real estate search. Once you have entered an address, if you check off the box next to Foreclosure, the search will return foreclosed homes by street, neighborhood, etc.
I read recently that the number of homes currently for sale is equal to the number of the shadow home inventory – homes representing distressed mortgages that have not yet been listed for sale. It will be difficult for home prices to improve in communities with a high number of foreclosed homes for sale and a large shadow inventory of homes that will eventually be listed for sale.
October 27th, 2009 by andum | Posted in Economy, Investing, Make Money, Stock Market, Wealth Creation, Wealth Preservation
Are you thinking about investing in the major US banks? Zero Hedge put together the above graphic to show the cozy relationship between the major US banks. Each of the green arrows shows one bank recommending the stock of another bank. Most of the red arrows come from an analyst at a European bank. Go to Zero Hedge to read the post and see the graphic in more detail. What I want to know is how much of each of these bank’s assets include stock in the banks that they are recommending. I also want to know if they were buyers or sellers after their recommendations came out. Buying stock solely on the basis of a recommendation is a loser’s strategy. You should have a basis for the investment (fundamental and/or technical) that you understand and a target price or plan to sell. This is not a time to buy and hold. Stock downgrades typically come out too late and/or after the institutional stock owners have sold.
September 18th, 2009 by andum | Posted in Economy, Manage Money, Save Money, Wealth Preservation
Paul Kedrosky of the Calculated Risk blog has posted the above graphic prepared by Moody’s economy.com (see full post here or click on graphic) that suggests that the recent peak housing prices will not return to the states hardest hit by falling home prices, such as California and Florida, until after 2023. The average US home price is not expected to return to the recent peak until 2020. Of course, these projections are based on assumptions that may not be met. But, if you own a home and are underwater and hoping for a quick return to a positive equity position, these estimates should temper some of your optimism. Note that the CSI acronym included in the graphic is the Case-Shiller index, a calculation based on repeat sales of US single family homes.
September 14th, 2009 by andum | Posted in Economy, Wealth Preservation
photo credit: MjaMes1408
Interesting overview of Hyman Minsky in the Boston Globe (see article here), a 20th century Harvard trained economist who was not considered to have had a major influence on macroeconomic thought during his lifetime or after his death – until now. Apparently, his ideas are now in vogue. The article highlights his “Financial Instability Hypothesis” – namely, that economic crises arise after periods of economic stability, not instability, when lenders and borrowers take on more risk in order to make more money. His proposed solutions to a depression like crisis included having the Federal Reserve serve as a lender to firms in trouble (being done) and having the government employ those out of work (not likely). (credit to Barry Ritholtz of the Big Picture blog)
August 30th, 2009 by andum | Posted in Make Money, Manage Money, Stock Market, Wealth Creation, Wealth Preservation
Andy Dufresne at Zero Hedge just posted the above chart from StockCharts.com of the 10 Year Treasury Note and S&P index (see his post here). Please note on the chart how the 10 Year (in red) peaks before the market peaks and bottoms before the market bottoms, with a lag of 3 to 4 months. If the 10 Year is now rolling over and the same correlation holds true as the chart shows, the market should bottom in the Fall. The good news is that mortgage rates will drop, since rates are tied to the 10 Year Note.
June 19th, 2009 by andum | Posted in Site Update
I have decided that Wealth Itself will only work as a blog with frequent posts (daily is my goal). Accordingly, I am taking time from posting infrequently as I study in order to take a more active role in managing my own investments. Last year, we decided to work with a financial planner and rollover my 401K to a passively managed set of diversified funds. After suffering a considerable loss (along with everyone else), I started to question the wisdom of ignoring macroeconomic issues (buy and hold) and our diversification plan. I think that once I return to posting I will have some useful things to say about investing. Oh, and I also have to allow time to complete my work for pay and follow baseball.
May 12th, 2009 by andum | Posted in Economy, Stock Market, Wealth Preservation
Last October I pulled some retirement funds out of the market and moved them into a money market fund. I couldn’t bear to watch the shrinking balance, especially when the economic news seemed so dire. I decided I would rather preserve the reduced balance rather than take a chance that there was more pain to follow (there was). Since then I decided to spend more time reading about the economy, both optimistic and pessimistic viewpoints. My opinion, based on this reading, continues towards believing that there is more bad news looming for the economy – even in the presence of the ongoing stock market rally. It is difficult to think differently based on the new release of the US Treasury Monthly Statement (see document here ). Receipts for April 2009 – the month that typically results in the largest inflow of the year – was 34% less than April 2008 (see Table below). Receipts for what should be the best income month of the year for the US government were less than government outlays (as has every month since September 2008). This number suggests that the deficit estimates are probably optimistic (even after the upward revision this week), that the dollar will weaken and that the threat of inflation will start to play an even more prominent role in investor psyche. (credit to The Automatic Earth / Alea)
May 5th, 2009 by andum | Posted in Blogging, Site Update
April 2009 Site Update
Last month I posted the first monthly Wealth Itself progress update. Today I am posting the second update. I intend to continue to report the key site stats as I think that there are a few people who will be interested and it forces me to review the goals and objectives of the site.
Expenses = $0
- No new expenses incurred.
Income = $47.75
- I have sold a six month ad for $50.00, yielding $47.75 after PayPal fees.
Blogging
- I participated in another blogging carnival at Ask Mr Credit Card.
- My post on saving money through selecting alternative energy suppliers was linked to by two blogs, including an MSM Money blog which sent 32 visitors in April.
- Google has ranked my posts on eyeglasses highly and has sent many visitors to the site.
- Visitors:
- 244 first time visitors, up from 174 for March
- 18 visitors on the peak day
- 25 returning visitors, a significant increase from the 4 returning visitors recorded in March
- 371 pageloads, up from 234 pageloads in March
- Comments – none
- RSS subscribers (Feedburner) = 5, an increase from 4 in March
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